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Course summary

The Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Counselling and Psychotherapy is recognised as a professional training course by the Irish association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and satisfies the professional accreditation requirements of this body.

Year 3 and Year 4: Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Counselling & Psychotherapy

The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Counselling and Psychotherapy satisfies the accreditation requirements of the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

All part-time programmes at CIT will run subject to sufficient student numbers. Where a programme cannot proceed, applicants will be contacted and advised on alternative study options.

Students should note that Fees quoted relate to the academic year 2019/2020 only and are subject to change on an annual basis. Except where stated, course fees cover the cost of tuition only.

Course fees must be paid before attending lectures.

Course Fee: Year 3: €2,975 | Year 4: €2,975

Please note: Before applying for Year 3 and Year 4 of the Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Counselling & Psychotherapy you must complete successfully the One year Certificate in Counselling Skills AND the Higher Certificate in Counselling Skills or its equivalent.

Aims

This course is a professional practitioner training in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Its aim is to develop reflective and skilled practitioners who will have attained the requisite knowledge, personal development and competence to provide Counselling and Psychotherapy in a professional manner.

Core Theoretical Orientation

The core theoretical orientation of the course is integrative. The core humanistic elements are Person Centred, Gestalt and Transactional Analysis. The course also draws substantially from the relational end of Psychoanalysis. Some elements from the Cognitive and Behavioural traditions are also included.

Course Content for Year 3 and Year 4

The course is offered over two semesters from September to May each year. Each semester has 5 modules. The course has five key elements which are integrated in the training, using a strong experiential and practical focus.

These are:

Counselling and Psychotherapy Theory and Application

Practitioner Development

Experiential Group Process/personal process integration

Supervised Counselling and Psychotherapy practice

Counselling and Psychotherapy integration

1. Counselling and Psychotherapy Theory and Application
The Gestalt Approach
The Person centred and Transactional analysis approaches revisited and integrated
An introduction to Self Psychology
An introduction to the Cognitive Behavioural Approach
Integrating elements from the psychoanalytic Tradition
Developmental Theory
Personality Theory
An integrative theory of Counselling and Psychotherapy
Professional Practice and Ethics
Understanding Abnormality
Therapeutic change

3. Experiential group process / personal process integration
The content of the Experiential Group Process arises from within the process itself. The purpose of the Experiential Group Process module is to provide the students with a facilitated group experience through which they will have the opportunity to develop, expand and consolidate Personal process competencies which are necessary for their development as Counselling and Psychotherapy practitioners.

4. Supervised Counselling and Psychotherapy practice
Through regular supervision the student will receive ongoing support, guidance and assessment of all aspects of his/her work with clients.

5. Counselling and Psychotherapy Integration
This element provides students with the opportunity to integrate the theoretical, personal and practice elements of their training in an experiential way

Work with Clients

Students will be required to carry out 100 hours of Counselling work with clients during the training. They will be required to obtain supervision for this work from a supervisor nominated by the College. Payment for supervision will be made directly by students and is not included in the course fee.

Personal Therapy

Students will be required to have undertaken at least 100 sessions of personal therapy before the completion of their training. The cost of this is separate to the course and is arranged directly between the student and the therapist.

Dual Relationships

Due to the personal and experiential nature of the course, it is generally not possible to have staff or students with significant existing personal or professional relationships in the same course group. Where possible, every effort is made to overcome this difficulty by placing them in separate groups. Oftentimes this solution is not possible and in these instances, a dual relationship may prevent the applicant from being offered a place on the course at that time.

Award

On successful completion of the full programme, students will be awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Counselling and Psychotherapy, conferred by the Higher Education Training and Awards Council. On achieving the degree, students will be equipped to carry out Counselling and Psychotherapy in a structured setting with the support of supervision. The BA honours degree is a fully validated professional Counselling and Psychotherapy training programme which satisfies the accreditation requirements of the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Duration

The course will be offered on a part-time basis over two years. The regular sessions will be held on two evenings per week 6.30pm to 9.30pm. Alternatively, some of the evening sessions could be transferred to Saturday. When a Saturday is involved it would replace two evening sessions.

During Year 3, there will be two weekend workshops in addition to the regular weekly sessions.

Assessment

Assessment will be made for the purposes of evaluating overall competency in Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Further Studies

The MA in Integrative Psychotherapy is a postgraduate course of study and training in Integrative Psychotherapy for practitioners who have completed the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Counselling and Psychotherapy or its equivalent. It aims to equip practitioners with the advanced knowledge and clinical capability that would match international standards of best practice within the Psychotherapy profession.

Two written references are also required for applicants who have not already been on a prior stage of the course. The Reference Forms must be printed, completed, and submitted to CIT by the closing date (26th April 2019). You can download the Reference Form by clicking the 'Overview Tab' above .